Certain pharmeceutical compositions are known to be effective against herpes Zoster; the antibiotic Rifamycin or the immune stimulating agent Isoprinosine (Lesourd B, Loude, J., Meunier, P., Doumerc, P., Moulias, R., Traitement du zona ZOSTER par Isoprinosine, La nouv. Presse Medicale, Jan. 23 1982, II, No. 3, p. 191) and other chemotherapeutic compounds such as idoxuridine (Juel Jensen B.E., Treatment of Zoster with Idoxuridine in Dimethylsulfoxide; Result of Two Blind Control Trials; Brit. Med. J. 1970 (4), pp 776-780; cytosine arabinoside (Pierle, l.N., Cytosine Arabinoside for Herpes Zoster, New Eng. J. Med., 1974,290, pp 404-410) and adenine arabinoside (Whitely, R.J. et al, Adenine Arabinoside Therapy for Herpes Zoster, New Eng. J. Med., 1976, 294, pp 1193-1199).
Isoprinoside has a slow curvature action upon Zoster eruption; its effect upon pain is practically insignificant. The other substances, idoxuridine, cytosine, arabinoside, and adenine arabinoside are contraindicated on account of side effects.
The antivirotic action of several classes of chelators has been ascertained as against a large spectrum of viruses (Perrin D.D. and Stunzi H., 1981 - Pharmac.Ther.22, 255) in in vitro studies or in animal studies; even certain compounds of the class of thiosemicarbazones were proved to be active in the prophylaxis of chicken pox in an epidemic in Madras. In our country. Gh.D.Grigorescu wrote (in 1955) that dimercapto-propanol (DMP; BAL) is effective against herpes Zoster and against some other viroses (1973); however, DMP is not indicated for human use to the fact that the therapeutic dose is higher than the toxic dose (L.Goodman, The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics,1980 Ed.L.Goodman, A.Gilman).
The detoxifying action of the ethylene diamino-tetracetic acid is well-known; this product is used as an antidote in poisonings with bi and trivalent metals; its mechanism of action is explained by a chelating process.
The chelating action of the ethylene diaminotetracetic acid and of its salts with various metal ions is dependent upon temperature, pH, and the specific activity of the chelating agent expressed by the stability constant of the resulting complex.
Its antiviral effect has only been proved in in vitro studies on some viral enzymes--the polymerases of viral nucleic acids and the neuraminidase of the A flu virus (Perrin D.D. and Stunzi H., 1981, Pharmac.Ther.22, 255)--whose activity was inhibited by the ethylenediaminotetracetic acids thus, viruses multiplication and their penetration into cells was prevented; however, this chelator has not been as yet used in antiviral human therapy.
The prior art does not mention pharmaceuticals or medicinal compositions meant for antiviral therapy with the ethylene diamino tetracetic acid as their active ingredient.